12 Steps

to mak e a li vin g

Writing
Jeff Goins
Bestselling Author of The Art of Work
 Table of Contents

Introduction: You Don’t Have to Starve (If You Do This…)

Step 1: Clarify your message with a worldview statement

Step 2: Pick your platform personality

Step 3: Launch a blog

Step 4: Publish one post per week

Step 5: Start an email list

Step 6: Publish a manifesto

Step 7: Get your first 100 subscribers

Step 8: Publish 10 guest posts

Step 9: Get 1,000 Subscribers

Step 10: Conduct a survey

Step 11: Launch MVP and make your first $1,000

Step 12: Start making $10,000/mo

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 Introduction
You Don’t Have to Starve (If
You Do This…)

A friend of mine recently did a survey of a few thousand writers, asking them how
much money they make off their writing per month. Do you know what they said?
Can you guess? A few thousand bucks a month? A few hundred? Not even close.
According to this study, the average writer makes less than a dollar a month off
their writing.

A dollar. A DOLLAR?!!

That’s insane, and in my opinion, unacceptable. Sadly, though, it’s true. Based on
my conversations with the hundreds of thousands of writers who read my blog
every month, most of them aren’t making money off their writing. Like, none.

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Another study I found was done by Writers Digest, and the findings weren’t much
better. Out of the 7000 working writers surveyed, over 77% didn’t make more than
$1,000 a year off their writing.1

Look. I know it’s no surprise that writers don’t make a fortune off their work, but a
dollar a month?

A thousand dollars a year?

We can do better.

And yet, for every group of Starving Artists out there, we occasionally stumble
across an individual who defies the odds and breaks through the glass ceiling of
what’s possible. These are those elite few we tend to call “lucky” and “privileged.”

But are they really?

The truth is some writers make very little money and some make a lot of money. In
fact, writing may be one of the few jobs where the minimum and maximum earning
potential are practically limitless. With other jobs, like law or medicine or even food
service, there is some minimum salary to which you are entitled. Not so with writing.
That makes this a little risky. But you knew that already. ;)

But the converse is also true. Most doctors and lawyers don’t make much more
than the average income, which can be multiple six figures. It’s a nice living, but
such professions have their limitations. Those in the creative arts, however, have
none. Take J.K. Rowling, for example, billionaire author of the Harry Potter series. Or

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even Dr. Dre, another billionaire who made his living off his work and the products
he was able to create around it.

This may be the most volatile, most exciting profession there is. Now, let me tell you
something you didn’t know…

You don’t have to starve.

You can share your ideas and stories with the world and make a living doing so. You
can get paid to write for a living. And you don’t have to be a bestselling author or a
super-popular blogger to do so.

What you do have to do is pay attention to the way other people have succeeded.
You have to follow the path that your predecessors have set before you. You need to
give up on the limiting beliefs that you can’t do this and stop thinking you’re special.

You’re not.

You are no different than the millions of aspiring writers who have come before you.
Except that you have opportunities and resources than many never did. Hemingway
didn’t have a blog. Twain didn’t have Amazon. Austen didn’t have an email list.

This is the best time to be a writer.

And yet, many of us are squandering the opportunities before us. We’re believing a
myth — we must starve for our art — that just isn’t true.

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It’s time to break out of that way of thinking and create the future you’ve always
dreamed for yourself. Every year, I see hundreds of writers that I personally know
bridge the gap between starving and thriving. I’ve watched them do it, documented
the process, and I’m going to share it all here. This is what I teach in my program
Tribe Writers, and before I begin each class, I always tell the students the same
thing:

If you do the work, you’ll see the

results.
In other words, this process works if you do. I can’t motivate you. I can’t make you sit
down and write. But I can show you the way to success and hope that you take the
next step.

So, here’s how this is going to go. In this brief book, I am going to outline a process
for you. I call it the “12 Steps to Writing Success.” This is what 99% of the writers
I know who are succeeding have done, in one form or another. It’s a proven path
based on literally thousands of case studies. And if you do the work, you will see the
results.

A few quick rules on these steps:

• You can’t skip a step. Do them in order as best you can. They are designed
to work in a progression that creates a sense of momentum so that each
step becomes successively easier.

• In particular, this book is designed to help you get moving in the right
direction, but I recommend joining a community to hold you accountable

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 to the process. At the end of the book, I’ll share some resources about how
you can keep going.

• If you get stuck, see the trouble-shooting tips for each step. The level of
success you experience may vary, but I have never seen someone do all
twelve steps and not get out of the rut they were in, filled with hope for what
was made possible. I pray the same is true for you.

Okay, let’s begin.

Sources:

How Much Do Writers Earn? Less Than You Think

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 Step 1
Clarify Your Message
with a Worldview

The first step in this process is to clarify your message. Where do we begin as
writers? With our voice, right?

Well, kind of.

So many writers struggle with their writing voice, and a lot of the struggle is
unnecessary. The truth is nobody cares about your voice. Your readers want to
know that your content matters to them.

Did you know the amount of books people are reading each year has been declining
for the past forty years? In fact, some studies say the average person reads about a
book a year, and there are growing groups of people who read zero books a year.

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“That can’t be true,” you’re saying.

It is.

So how do we become one of the few writers a reader will bother reading? How do
we make our work stand out from all the rest.

The answer is we must write with a worldview. The best authors and
communicators do this naturally. They understand intuitively that the writing we love
to read has more to do with style than content. In other words, it’s not just what you
say, but how you say it.

Another word for that is worldview.

We all have a unique way of looking at the world, a particular perspective that
informs our message. For Hemingway, it was his belief that courage was grace
under fire, a quality that only the greatest heroes and heroines possess. For
Machiavelli, it was his political convictions about how people should be ruled and
how rulers should exert their power over others.

Every great writer has a worldview.

So, how do you find yours?

Start by filing in the blanks of the following:

EVERY [PEOPLE GROUP] CAN/SHOULD [ACTION]

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This can be whatever you want, but it needs to be as specific as you can make it.
For example, you might say:

• Every person should recycle.

• Every mom can run a successful business without neglecting her family.

• Every politician should tell the truth.

And so on.

A worldview can obvious or not. It can be very specific or more general. The point
is that it is the guiding statement that undergirds everything you write and why you
write it.

Assignment: Take a moment to write out your worldview, following the above
exercise. Put it on a post-it note and attach it to your computer so that you stare at it
every time you begin writing.

Sources:

The Decline of the American Book Lover

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 Step 2
Pick Your Platform
Personality

In today’s noisy world, there’s no other way to be heard than with a platform. You
have to fight for attention — that’s just the way it is. But if you think that means
there’s only one way to communicate your message, that’s just not true.

A professional speaker doesn’t connect with an audience the same way an author
does, nor should someone who writes fiction follow the same game plan as a
nonfiction writer — at least, not exactly. The rules change, depending on what you
write. So what do you do?

If you aren’t one of the typical types of bloggers trying to make it online, is there any
hope or breaking through the clutter and getting your message heard?

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Here’s the good news: There’s more than one way to build a popular blog. After
years of studying the most powerful communicators in the world, both online and
offline, I’ve discovered five basic types of bloggers that I call “The 5 Most Powerful
Platform Personalities.” And before you start building your audience, it would be
wise to figure out which one best suits you.

The Journalist
The Journalist builds his platform on asking questions. The only requirement for
this type of platform is curiosity.

When I set out to start my blog, I was nervous. I was no expert on writing, so what
right did I have to tell other people how to do it? I didn’t even have a published book.

Then I found out about Darren Rowse. Darren, as you may know, started one of the
largest blogging communities in the world. How did Darren build his platform? Did
he wait until he was an expert?

No. He began his journey by asking questions. And as he publicly shared the
answers he got, his curiosity attracted an audience of hundreds of thousands of
people. Now, he is considered a leading expert on blogging, and it all began with
asking a few simple questions.

If you are a naturally inquisitive person, this may be an excellent approach for you to
consider.

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The Prophet
The Prophet builds her platform on telling the truth. The requirement for this type of
platform is a passion for authenticity. I can think of few people who have done this
better than my friend Jamie Wright.

Jamie authors a popular blog called The Very Worst Missionary, on which she riffs
and rants about faith, life, and other stuff that bugs her. She complains and cusses
and confesses. In short, she says all the things missionaries wish they could say,
and people love her for it.

Ask any of her readers why and they’d probably tell you, “Because she’s real.” She
tells the truth — the dirty, ugly, nasty, wonderful truth. That’s what a prophet does.

Of course, prophets are not always so popular. They are unpredictable and
often offending someone. But that’s not their goal. The goal is to simply tell the
truth, whether people want to hear it or not. Another example is Seth Godin, who is
an iconoclast in the business world.

Seth calls out the brokenness of the status quo — whether it be in marketing,

education, or charity work — and challenges us to something better. And
sometimes he catches a lot of flack for it. That is also part of the job description of a
prophet, so be prepared for some criticism if you take this approach.

And remember to not be cynical for the sake of being cynical. Good prophets do not
only condemn the dark; they also call us into the light.

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The Artist
The Artist builds his platform by creating art — whether it be music, painting, or
entrepreneurship. The requirement is an eye for beauty.

An example of this type of author is Ann Voskamp, best-selling author and blogger.
She communicates the truth of her message through the words she uses and the
phrases she chooses. It’s a form of prose poetry, and the experience is completely
captivating (for the right reader).

Ann’s blog, aholyexperience.com, encourages readers to notice the everyday

moments in life we might otherwise miss. The gift of an artist is they give us eyes
to see.

The Professor
The Professor builds her platform on facts and information. She does extensive
research until she has achieved mastery. Of course, there is always more to learn,
but this type of person knows more than most. The only requirement is a longing
to learn.

A great example of someone who has built a platform this way is Jim Collins. Jim is
respected speaker and author. He has written Good to Great, Built to Last, and How
the Mighty Fall — all bestselling business books based on extensive research and
case studies he and his team have done.

These books are not light reading. They are full of charts and information and case

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studies. The Professor loves data. And if you are going to build your expertise this
way, you too better love reading, studying, and analyzing (or find a team that does).

An example in the blogosphere is Michael Hyatt, who uses his platform to break
down complex problems into easy-to-follow solutions and processes. This is the gift
of the Professor: they make the seemingly impossible, doable.

The Star
Perhaps, the oddest type of platform to build (and the most visible) is that of The
Star. Now, don’t misunderstand this. These people aren’t just famous for being
famous. They are known for being charismatic, naturally likable.

A product of a media-saturated culture, stars are a new breed of influencers. They

woo and endear us, even sometimes scandalize their audiences, and for the most
part, we love them for it. They are doing what we ask of them — sharing their lives.

But of course, not everyone can be a star. This kind of personality earns his
audience through charisma. Often, the person is attractive or talented, but not
always. These people earn their attention because people want to be around them,
and this is often because they want to be around people. They’re a party looking for
a place to happen.

An example of this type is Ashton Kutcher. A talented entrepreneur and well-known

actor, Ashton has something that makes him especially interesting to fans and

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customers. He is charismatic, full of energy, ideas, and excitement. As a result,
people love listening to him. Another would be blogger and best-selling author Tim
Ferriss, whose mantra is basically, “If I can do it, so can you.” This is the message of
a star: I’m just like you.

Networkers fall into this group, as well. They have influence, because they’re
good with people. They may not be the up-front-and-center person, but they are
charismatic, nonetheless.

People like stars because stars tend to like people (or at least pretend they do).
You can’t be a star if you’re a misanthrope. It just won’t work. More than an other
personality, this one is contingent on community. You have be able to bring people
together and give them hope. That’s what stars do best — they attract the attention
to themselves so that they can point it towards something ultimately bigger.

What type of platform will you

build?
If you have a message you want to get out in to the world, you need to identify what
type of voice you have and what type of platform you should build. These are the
five main types of platforms. So, which one are you?

Assignment: Choose your platform personality.

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 Step 3
Launch a Blog

I’m gonna cut to the chase: You need a blog. The world is changing and moving on
without you, and it’s time you had a platform of your own to share your message.
The best and easiest way to launch a self-hosted blog is with WordPress.

There are over 60 million blogs on WordPress, one of several platforms that helps
you to publish online. This number, according to one source, represents only
43% of all blogs, making the total somewhere around 160 million blogs. (I recently
heard this number could be as high as 300 million). These blogs are viewed by an
audience of over 400 million people each month — and that’s only one place people
are connecting online.

Incredible, isn’t it? You’d be hard pressed to argue there’s not a tremendous
opportunity here. But are you taking advantage of it? It’s never been easier to
connect with an audience and get your message heard… but are you engaging in
the conversation?
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Forget for a second all the technological hurdles and learning curves you think are
associated with blogging, and imagine for a moment: If you had the chance to share
a message with the world, what would you say? And what would happen if people
actually listened? We all have something to say. Blogs not only make that possible,
they make it easy. All you have to do is act. It’s time to dive in and figure out what it
takes to get your message heard, to see your cause spread.

What happens if you don’t do this? Well, nothing. You keep getting what you’ve
always gotten, which probably means:

• No more attention

• No more trust

• No more permission

You stay invisible, and your message remains irrelevant. If that’s okay with you, keep
doing what you’re doing. But if not, it’s time for a change. For years, I dreamed of
having a personally-branded website I could have control over. But once I started
getting bogged down by the technical aspects of blogging, I froze. Then I’d stall and
eventually give up. But you don’t have to do that.

Setting up a self-hosted blog sounds technical but is, in fact, easy to do. And yes, I
think it’s worth investing a little money into having full control over your website. I’m
going to show you exactly what you need to do. Here are the quick steps you can
take:

1. Get a host. A web host is where your website “lives.” You own it, but you
pay a small fee to keep it online (kind of like paying property taxes to the
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 government). I recommend Bluehost for only $3.49/month. It’s one of the
most popular web hosts on the Internet and offers excellent, 24/7 customer
service.

2. Register a domain. You can get a domain name (e.g. goinswriter.com)

through your hosting company. I recommend doing it this way, so you can
keep everything streamlined. With Bluehost, this service is free with a
hosting plan (as opposed to paying extra through a service like
Godaddy.com). If you’ve already registered a domain through another
service and need to host it, you’ll either have to transfer your domain
registration or point your name servers to the host (here’s a video on how to
do that).

3. Install WordPress. Blogging requires software, and the best that I’ve
found is WordPress. It’s easy, quick, and best of all, free. You can set
up WordPress through your host (Bluehost does this for you for free).
Otherwise, you have to go through WordPress.org to download the software
and then upload it to a host.

4. Get a theme. When you start using WordPress, you get access to a bunch
of beautiful blog designs (called “themes”), many of which are free. For
those just getting started, I recommend Twenty Sixteen; it’s a simple,
elegant theme.

5. Log in and start blogging. The URL for your dashboard (which redirects
to the login page if you’re not logged in) is yourblogname.com/wp-admin/.
Once logged in, click “Posts” on the left-hand sand, and then select “Add

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 New.” Write a title and create some content for your new blog, and you’re off
to the races!

And that’s it; now you’re blogging. Which is where the hard, but good, work of
writing begins. See you on the other side!

Assignment: Set up your own self-hosted blog using a service like Bluehost. For
a free, eight-minute tutorial on how to get started, visit this page:
https://goinswriter.com/self-hosted-blog/

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 Step 4
Publish One Post
Per Week

In this step, we’re going to focus on the importance of shipping new content every
single week. Once you have your blog up and running, you’ve got to keep creating.
Launching a blog is worthless if it’s not updated with regular content.

When I started my blog, I made a commitment to write and publish a new article on
it every single day for the first year. By the end of that year, I had over ten thousand
email subscribers. Some of the articles were better than others, but looking back, I
realize that it was the consistency that grew my audience. It made me a better writer
and earned the trust of an audience. When you keep showing up, good things
happen.

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Now, I’m not going to tell you to write a new article every single day. That was a
different Internet back then, and the rules of the game have changed. But I am
going to tell you to write one new article (that’s at least 500 words) per week.

If you do this consistently, 80% of the time, you are going to see improvements
in your quality of content, your own confidence in your work, and the amount of
people reading your stuff.

I call this the Aram Method, named after one of my students in Tribe Writers.
For years, Aram Boyd struggled with his writing. He had dreams of becoming a
published author and popular speaker but kept getting stuck. Finally, after years
of frustration and perfectionism, he committed to writing and publishing a new
article every single week. Aram had made these kinds of vows in the past before
and failed to meet them. Why would this time be any different? What had changed,
however, was that he had recently joined a mastermind group and made the goal of
writing a new article every week known to each member in the group. He asked for
accountability and invited feedback.

And guess what?

Aram wrote every single week. He did something that at one point he didn’t even
think was possible. Some weeks, he would write well ahead of time and others he’d
be finishing the article minutes before deadline. But for over the course of a year
(and counting), he’s consistently done it. And here’s the best part. His writing has
improved. His confidence has soared. And he’s reaching more people than ever.
Here’s what Aram wrote on his blog after a year of consistent writing:

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 “This year I made a commitment to post to this blog every week. Every
Thursday by midnight. This kept me focused and got me to work even
when I didn’t feel like it. 51 weeks in a row I fulfilled this promise to
myself. If you’re reading this it means I made it to 52. All because of
one little phrase: ‘no matter what.’ That’s the secret right there. I made
an agreement with myself to post every week No Matter What. Those
three little words kept me true to my word. I worked when I didn’t feel
like it. When it wasn’t convenient and things came up, I still got my
writing done. When I was tired, uninspired, frustrated and distracted,
those three little words kept me going. Even when it seemed I wasn’t
getting anywhere and the doubt and despair were creeping up on me,
I performed. Because those words left me no choice and no room for
excuses. I had to do my work no matter what.”

If you want to find your tribe, you first have to prove yourself faithful to the writing
process. Having some kind of accountability group, like my500words.com, can be
a great way to stay consistent in this habit. You’re definitely going to need help. And
you’re going to need to commit to the process. No matter what.

Assignment: Commit to writing a new article and publishing it on your blog

every single week. Share this with a group of friends or join an accountability group
to make sure you have the support you need.

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 Step 5
Start an Email List

Every writer needs an email list. It’s just that simple. If you aspire to publish a book
and actually sell copies some day, if you want to make money off your writing, you
need people paying attention to your work. And the best way to do that is with an
email list.

So many writers don’t get the attention they deserve, and this frustrates me. Their
messages fade into oblivion before they even have the chance to be heard. Why is
this? Because they neglect the single-most important tool to their success:

The email list.

Email is king. It is, hands down, the best way to build an engaged audience, sell
a product, or create excitement around your next big project. Without one, you
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will struggle to get the traction your message deserves and leave your fate up to
chance.

Why is email so powerful?

Because email is personal. It’s a friendlier medium than blogging or even social
media. When people see your email in their inbox along with all their other friends,
this builds trust.

Because you own your email list. With Twitter and Facebook and other channels,
you have to go through the “middleman” to access your audience. But with email,
your message is delivered straight to your readers. You don’t need anyone’s
permission.

Because email is private. When you start a conversation in someone’s inbox, they
feel like they can be themselves and share whatever they may be struggling with,
what they want, or questions they have. I love the rapport this builds with readers.

Nearly every person in the world has an email address. That means email
outnumbers all the users on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and every other social
media channel combined. That makes it the world’s largest social network. If you
haven’t tapped into the power of email marketing, then you’re missing out on an
incredible opportunity to engage with the people who want to hear from you.

But wait a second. Isn’t email dead? Maybe you’ve heard this, that people don’t read
email anymore or that it’s better to use Facebook or Snapchat. But that’s just not
true.

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If email is dead, why does every social network ask for an email address before
you can create an account? Why do most people still check email first thing in the
morning? Because email is still the most popular way for people to communicate
online.

Every day, people check their inboxes (often multiple times per day). They sit in front
of a screen, glued to Outlook or Gmail, refreshing until they get that gratification of
knowing someone else in the world cares about them.

Certainly, the way people communicate online is changing and some may not be
reading or using email as much as they did a decade ago. But email is not dead -- it
is very much alive and well. And being almost as old as the Internet itself, it’s not
going away anytime soon.

If you’ve been avoiding building your email list because it seems like an outdated
technology, it’s time to face the facts. Email isn’t going anywhere. And if you’re a
writer, you need one.

I’ve personally seen this myself with a recent book launch where the book sold
15,500 copies in the first two weeks of the launch. Do you know how many of those
were sold via social media? About 500. And the other 15,00? Well, that was all
thanks to email.

As a writer, I get more “mileage” out of my newsletter than any other platform,
including my blog. When I send an email to my list, I often get hundreds of replies,
far more engagement than a blog post gets. If I send a link to my email list, people
click it. If I ask a question, people answer. If I talk about my new book, people buy it.

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So, you need an email list. I hope that’s clear by now. But how do you get started?
Here’s what you need to do:

1. Get a good email marketing service. This means more than just Outlook
or Apple Mail. You need a way to send one message to lots of people all at
once.

2. Create a signup form on your website. It needs to be obvious and not

hideously ugly. If your website doesn’t have a clear opt-in form, then you’re
missing out on a lot. If you don’t have a self-hosted blog yet, watch this
8-minute tutorial on how to get started.

3. Start emailing your list something new once a week. Don’t overcommit to
a frequency like once a day or even a few times a week. Start small and be
consistent. A weekly newsletter is plenty. What should you send? Whatever
you want. I recommend the articles you’re already writing once a week. The
goal is to be helpful, so that people continue to read and pay attention. If you
make it about them, they’ll make it about you.

For this, I recommend ConvertKit. It’s affordable and easy to get started, and they’ll
walk you through all of the above. Check them out at goinswriter.com/convertkit.

Assignment: Sign up for an email marketing service like ConvertKit and set it up
for your blog. Then start emailing!

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 Step 6
Publish a Manifesto

Once you have an email list, you need some way of attracting new people to join
your list. This is how you grow your tribe. The best way to do this is through what’s
often called a “lead magnet.” For our sakes, I’ll call it a manifesto.

A manifesto, in essence, is a summary of your worldview. It’s a short, shareable

document that quickly lets your readers know what you are and are not about. It’s
a great way to condense your message into a short, all-encompassing format that
adds value to other people’s lives.

People can read it, print it, email it to their friends, or feed it to their dog. By reading
it (if you’ve written it well), they get a fuller understanding of your core message,
which you have may have been trying to communicate (through your blog, website,
Twitter profile, etc.) for years.

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This is the reason why people write books instead of just publishing a series of
magazine articles. Sometimes, you have more to say than can be contained in
short, bite-sized pieces. A community can’t do this. When you have something
powerful to say — revolutionary, even — you need a manifesto.

My first eBook was a manifesto. I called it The Writer’s Manifesto (nobody said you
had to be too creative with this), and it was a repurposing of an existing article that I
expanded into a short PDF that people could download for free once they joined my
email list.

The week that I launched my manifest, my list grew from 72 subscribers to over
1,000. That’s the power of this step.

If you’ve got something to say that can’t be contained in a simple article or blog
post, maybe it’s time to write a manifesto.

Assignment: Take a piece of writing — a popular blog post, an old article or

essay, even a short story that summarizes who you are and what you’re about —
dust it off, and turn it into a manifesto.

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 Step 7
Get Your First 100
Subscribers

Now, it’s time to build your list. Most people do this all wrong. They start growing
their tribe by reaching out to strangers. Don’t do this. All you need to get started is
100 people. Do you know 100 people?

Of course, you do. Go to your phone right now. Look at Facebook. Pull out your
address book (physical or digital). I guarantee that you have 100 people there. You
know 100 people.

So let’s invite them to join your email list.

I learned this from my friend Bryan Harris who spoke at the Tribe Conference and
challenged every writer in the audience, the majority of which had fewer than

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100 subscribers and many who hadn’t even started an email list at all, to get 100
subscribers by the end of the day.

Do you know how he told them to do this?

With a pen and paper.

No fancy apps or marketing budgets. Just a pen and a paper and a phone or
computer to start contacting people directly and saying something to the effect of,
“Hey, I’m starting a blog about X and want to send out weekly newsletters. Can I
include you?”

If they said yes, you could add their name and email to the list. If not, then you honor
the request and move on.

By the end of the day, the majority of people who participated in the challenge
had achieved the goal. In fact, some had grown their fledgling email lists to over
200 people!

The truth is you know people. You just need to ask their permission to send them
information. You can do it. It’s not that hard. And before we start thinking about
thousands of subscribers, we need to start with 100. If you got started right now,
you might be done before the end of the day. So, what’re you waiting for?

Assignment: Reach out to 100-200 people via text, Facebook, and email, and ask
them if you can add them to your list (using the script above).

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 Step 8
Publish Ten
Guest Posts

Guest posting is a powerful tool for growing your platform. You develop
relationships, increase the visibility of your content, and generate new opportunities.
Some of the biggest names in blogging used guest posting to build their tribe
(Brian Clark, Chris Brogan, Leo Babauta to name a few). I did it myself, using a
strategic guest posting approach to gain 10,000 subscribers in about six months.

It really boils down to positioning a couple elements: you and your content.
Positioning yourself communicates to the host blogger who you are in relation
to her. Maybe you are a subscriber or maybe you know someone she knows.
Establishing the relational connection creates familiarity you can build on.

If a host blogger doesn’t know you, they definitely don’t know what you write about.
Positioning your content demonstrates the value you’d bring to the celebrity’s blog

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in a guest post. Sharing other places you’ve published content strengthens your
credibility and shows you take writing seriously.

Bottom line: You’ve got to guest post.

One person who did this really well without having any unfair advantages was
Elizabeth Bradley, one of my students in Tribe Writers. Elizabeth started blogging
almost six years ago. But for the longest time she felt stuck. She started a
niche blog but wasn’t passionate about it, so she launched another blog called
Savouring Simplicity.

And then, she started guest posting.

Through guest posting, Elizabeth built her list, grew her network, and contributed
to blogs of celebrities, such as Cameron Diaz and Carrie Ann Moss (who played
Trinity in The Matrix). But the way she did this was crucial to her success. She didn’t
just hope to succeed. She set a goal, found a winning strategy, then created a plan
to get there.

If you want to succeed as a writer, you’re going to have to do the same. Passion
alone doesn’t lead to success. You need to be strategic. Things won’t just happen
to you, especially if you want to be a writer. You’re going to have to learn from those
who have gone before you and tasted success. Understand their methods and
use their strategies. Trying to do it on your own is just foolish. Learn from the best,
mimic what they do, and figure out your own way. You won’t succeed without a
strategy. It’s just that simple.

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That’s what Elizabeth Bradley did. After learning about guest posting in my Tribe
Writers course, she decided to apply the process and made some big asks. And she
ended up getting incredible results, results that surprised even herself. Here’s what
she did:

1. She created a list of 10 bloggers she dreamed of guest posting for and just
started asking them.

2. She kept asking until she found a yes. The crazy part? Nine of the ten
people she pitched said yes. And the one dummy? Well, that would be me
(don’t worry; I’ve since rectified the situation).

3. She continued to do what worked, guest posting on more and more sites
and growing her email list to 2,000 subscribers in a matter of months.

If Elizabeth’s story teaches us anything, it’s that if you do the work, you’ll see the
results. I believe that. And I hope you do, too. If you’re feeling stuck, chances are
what’s missing is a strategy, or perhaps, the right strategy. Don’t just hope for things
to change. Make a plan and execute on it.

Assignment: Make a list of 10 websites you’d like to start guest posting for. Then
try to think of other similar sites and get the list to at least 25 if not 30 websites.
And start pitching those websites, asking them for an opportunity to contribute
something to their website.

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 Step 9
Get 1,000 Subscribers

Your next step is to reach 1,000 subscribers. Once you have 100, you can start guest
posting and promoting your work. The goal of this is to start building links to your
website that over time create enough traffic that your audience soon will begin to
grow organically.

After you publish 10 guest posts, if you haven’t reached 1,000 subscribers, you want
to start trouble-shooting and getting more strategic with this tactic.

First things first, how much traffic are you generating from a guest post? If it’s less
than 100 visitors from a single post, it’s time to start targeting some larger bloggers
in your niche. Make a new list of 10 heavy hitters (what are sometimes called “A-list
bloggers”) and pitch them. Consider your first round of guest posts practice for this
next round.

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Next, if you’re generating considerable traffic (more than 100 visitors per guest
post), you want to make sure your conversion rate (the percentage of people
that are visiting your site and actually signing up for your email list as a subscriber)
is healthy.

Tip: if less than 1-2% of your total traffic is converting to your email list, then you
need to fix that. So if you’re getting a total of 1,000 visitors, then you should be
getting 10-20 new email signups per week. Again, that’s total traffic. Sending
targeted traffic from a guest post should yield a higher conversion rate (more like
5-10%), meaning if you have 100 people visit your site from a single post then you
should be able to get 5-10 subscribers from those leads.

If you’re not doing that, then you need to tweak one of or both of the following:

1. The location of your email opt-in form. This should be clear and obvious,
nearly impossible to miss. I recommend signing up for Sumo and using the
pop-up tool called List Builder.

2. The name of and/or the positioning of the manifesto or lead magnet.

Oftentimes, people want to change the whole thing, but the truth is people
aren’t signing up for your email list based on the content in the manifesto.
They’re signing up for whatever you’re promising them this will do. So if
people aren’t signing up, don’t scrap the whole thing. Tweak the promise
until you start seeing better results. And if the manifesto doesn’t actually
fulfill that promise, then it’s time to write a new one.

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 This step is a tough one and is a place where a lot of people get stuck.
Some people spend months here. Others spend years. The trick to getting
off this plateau is to keep testing things and figuring out what’s working
and what’s not. Then, it’s simple: do more of what works and less of what
doesn’t. As simple as that sounds, very bloggers do this. If you do, you’ll be
well ahead of the pack.

Good luck!

Assignment: Measure how well your guest posts are performing and how well
your traffic is converting. Make the necessary tweaks to get the numbers where
they need to be (see above), then keep guest posting until you hit 1,000 subscribers.

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 Step 10
Conduct a Survey

Okay. So now the real fun begins. You have 1,000 subscribers. This is a destination
that few bloggers ever arrive at. Of course, you’re not done, but you have just now
entered a world of possibility.

Kevin Kelly says that if you have 1,000 true fans, you can make a living off your art.
And he’s right. But there’s still work to be done in order to make this idea a reality.

With 1,000 true fans, you know have a tribe, a group of people who are listening to
you, who like you, and trust you. What do you do next?

Well, maybe not what you think.

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Lots of folks get to this point and try to launch a book or sell their audience
something that they think those people need. But that’s the wrong move. Because
sometimes—no, often—the place where you think people are at is not where they
actually are. And sometimes, what you think they already know, they don’t.

I like how Derek Sivers says this: “What’s obvious to you is amazing to others.”

So, what’s obvious to you?

Chances are you don’t know. So let’s find out. There are three steps you need to
take to go from not knowing what people want to knowing exactly what you should
create for them. And the way we get there is having the audience tell us. Here’s how
it works.

Step 1: Do a survey.
Don’t try to guess what people want from you. Ask them. It’s that easy. The
best way to do this is through a survey, which is just a fancy way of asking some
questions and collecting answers. Whether you use a tool like SurveyMonkey,
Google Forms, or just send out a plain email and ask people to reply, you want to
make sure that you include the following:

1. What do you want more of from me? (Here you want to include the kind of
content you provide and maybe some content you’re thinking of creating.
You want to stay focused on topics and/or how you’re helping people.)

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 2. Would you pay for this? If so, how much? (Here you want to offer some price
points that you would willingly accept for whatever this thing is going to be.)

3. How do you want it packaged? (Here you want to suggest the ways you
could deliver the product, be it a physical product, a PDF file, a course, a
coaching program, etc.)

That’s it! Keep it short and sweet. You can ask a few demographic questions if you
want. But make sure the above three questions are asked.

Step 2: Give them what they want.

Once you get at least 5-10% of your audience to take the survey (you want a large
enough sample size that you can be confident in the responses), it’s time to analyze
the results.

What do you see that surprises you?

What confirms what you already knew?

Most importantly, what does this tell you is you next move?

At this point, you have enough information to move forward and create your first
product. Once people have told you what they want and what they’re willing to pay
for, then it’s time to give it to them. And that’s what we’ll cover in our next step.

Assignment: Conduct a survey.

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 Step 11
Launch Your First
Product

Now it’s time to create your product. This is not some fancy new app or full-length
book. It’s something short and valuable that you can create in the next 2-4 weeks.
Don’t overthink it.

My first product was a keynote presentation that I used to deliver a talk on blogging
at a college. I spend a week turning it into a PDF. I called it Every Writer’s Dream,
which was a response to the number-one thing my audience was asking for:
answers on how to succeed as a writer. Then, I wrote another PDF to accompany
it called Before Your First Book, which was specifically about landing a book
contract, which I had just done thanks to my blog. Altogether, both books were
about 10,000 words.

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Then I bundled them together into one product and sold both for $4.99, with a $2
discount if you bought in the first week. That’s right. I wrote two books and sold
them both for $2.99. That was my first product launch. I sent a bad sales email on a
Friday afternoon and waited with bated breath, wondering if anyone would buy.

Someone did. And then someone else did. Three dollars here, six dollars there, and
that’s how I spent my weekend.

By Sunday night, I had made $1,500. Five hundred people had purchased my book
bundle. At the time, I was making about $35,000 a year. That was a paycheck, and
I’d just made it in a weekend. This changed everything.

After that, I turned those eBooks into a better product, which became a full-length
book called You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One), and I sold 10,000 copies of that
in about six months. Then, I used that book as the basis for a course called Tribe
Writers. And that was the year that I made $150,000 off my writing. The following
January, I quit my job and haven’t looked back since.

And it all started with that first product. It wasn’t the best product in the world. I
mean, I built it in a week! But it was the best I could do with the team that I had.
It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t great either. It was good enough. And that’s what a
minimum viable product (MVP) ought to be.

You need to create something good enough to sell based on the feedback from your
audience. And once you get them to pay you for it, you keep iterating on it, making it
better and better, until you’ve got something you can really be proud of.

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Here’s how it works:

1. Once you get your survey results, pick the easiest thing you can create in
the next 2-4 weeks.

2. Tell your audience that you’re going to create it and give them the option to
buy it ahead of time at a discount (this is called pre-selling the product).

3. Try to sell at least 10 copies of the product before you build it.

4. If you can pre-sell it, go ahead and build it. If not, keep trying until you find
something at least 10 people will buy. Don’t spend more than a month
building the product.

5. Spend a week launching the product. Send a few emails to your 1,000
subscribers, at least one on the day the product goes live, and two not the
last day of the sale (I recommend some kind of early bird price for the first
week to capture as many sales as you can during launch week).

6. Keep selling your product until you get to $1,000/mo.

There are lots of ways to do this. Andy Traub spent 30 days writing a book in public,
sending a new chapter every day to his growing email list of subscribers, asking for
feedback. By the end of the month, he had a book and an audience interested in
his book. When he launched that book, The Early to Rise Experience, he made about
$40,000 in just over two months.

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Getting paid to write is a messy process. Landing a big book deal is not the first
step. It’s finding at least 10 people to pay you to create something. It’s involving
people in the creation process, so that as you build it, people are validating the idea
for you. It removes the risk.

Brianna Lamberson did this by coaching a group of 30 women in a Facebook group

and then taking everything she learned from that experience to write and launch a
book in 30 days. Before she wrote it, she emailed a handful of friends asking them
if they’d pay $20. When they said they would, she sent them a Paypal link. When
the money started coming in, she knew she could confidently build something that
people would actually buy. Then she launched the book and made $1,000 in the
first week of launching it.

Again, this can look a lot of different ways, but you must create your product with
your audience. Involve them in the process, and they will repay you with loyalty. If
you can sell the idea (even just to a few people), then you can build it.

Assignment: Build your MVP and launch it. Don’t move to Step 12 until you’ve
made $1,000 off it.

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 Step 12
Make Your First $10K

Once you’ve launched your MVP and made your first $1,000, it’s time to scale. The
idea here is once you’ve done something you can do it again. Once you’ve made
$1,000 a month, you can do it again and again.

Each time you level up, the baseline for what’s possible rises. You increase your
capacity. What once was out of reach is now the new norm. And so now, our next
step is to make your first $10,000. If we can do that with a launch, we can start doing
the regularly, and you will be on your way to making a full-time living as a writer.

This stage is a big one and may take some time to work through. That’s okay. Don’t
rush it. You need to do this right.

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Here, you need to keep growing your email list (from 1,000 to 10,000). You need
to test and tweak what’s working and what’s not working with your product. In
all likelihood, your MVP—whether it’s a book, a coaching program, or something
else—won’t be your forever product that you keep selling year after year. It’s just
your first big win.

So at this stage, you may want to remove that product entirely and create something
new, or maybe you can just tweak it and turn it into something better. But at this
point, you need to be thinking about how you can grow.

Typically, that means doing all three of the following:

1. Reaching a larger market. Practically speaking, you need to grow your email
list from 1,000 to 10,000 through more guest posting, webinars, and paid
advertising and other means of list growth. Once you have something to
sell, you can also partner with affiliates and get access to other people’s
audiences. Together, you can sell your product and share the revenues.

2. Charging more for your products and services. As a rule, your prices should
only ever increase over time. Start low and gradually raise them to test
what your audience is willing to pay. Also, don’t forget that as you grow in
experience, what you’re worth actually increases. So it only makes sense
that what you sell should cost more over time. A good rule of thumb here is
to start with multiple price points for your products with the high price being
out of reach for 80% of your audience, the middle price being what you want
most people to pay, and the low price being something low enough that it
should feel affordable to those who really want what you’re offering.

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 3. Sell more often. This might mean more launches or creating automated
sales funnels. But the bottom line is the more you sell, the more money
you’ll make. Obviously, you want to do this in a way that you are comfortable
with and aligns with your values, but as a rule, it’s true. Sell more, make
more.

At this stage, you’ll need to iterate your MVP into some kind of signature product
that you can continue to sell over and over again. It can be a course, a coaching
package, or even a book. You’ll want to spend a few months building the product so
that you know it’s right. It needs to have multiple price points, and you should spend
at least 5-10 days launching it. The goal is $10,000. If you can do that, you can do
$100,000 a year.

Assignment: Spend 3-6 months creating a signature product. Grow your list to
5000-10,000 subscribers. Then launch your product to your email list for 5-10 days,
sending at least an email every other day telling people why they should buy it.
Make $10,000.

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 Conclusion

I remember the first time I launched my signature product, Tribe Writers, and made
$25,000 in a week. It felt like I’d just won the lottery. Afterwards, I went to lunch
with my friend Michael Hyatt and told him about it. I said, “I don’t think this will ever
happen again. That was just dumb luck.” He laughed and said, “Jeff, you’re right.
That won’t happen again. Next time, it’ll be even better.”

And he was right.

Every year since then, it’s gotten better. The books I write, the blog posts I publish,
the courses I teach. It’s all been getting better. That’s not to say there haven’t be
failures and setbacks. But over all, this thing just keeps getting better.

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I know it sounds crazy and out of reach. It certainly felt that way to me then and
still sometimes does. But what I know about these 12 steps, because I’ve now seen
them implemented with success thousands of times, is that they work. If you do the
work, you’ll see the results. And if you get to Step 12, and you do a $10,000 launch of
a signature product, you’ve made it.

When my first traditionally published book, Wrecked, came out, my wife gave me
a card congratulating me on the accomplishment. It was at the tail end of a busy
season when we’d had our first child, I’d started a blog, published two books, and
launched a course, all while still holding down a day job. But it was all about to
change. A few months after, I would quit my job and our lives would never be the
same. And in that card were these words, which I’ll never forget:

“It was never a question of IF, but always a matter of WHEN.”

The same is true for you, if you’re willing to do the work.

Good luck.

See you on the other side.

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 Appendix
The 12 Steps

Step 1: Clarify your message with a worldview statement

Step 2: Pick your platform personality

Step 3: Launch a blog

Step 4: Publish one post per week

Step 5: Start an email list

Step 6: Publish a manifesto

Step 7: Get your first 100 subscribers

Step 8: Publish 10 guest posts

Step 9: Get 1,000 Subscribers

Step 10: Conduct a survey

Step 11: Launch MVP and make your first $1,000

Step 12: Start making $10,000/mo

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